Three Portraits of a Reader

He reads Robert Alter’s translation, The Five Books of Moses. Seeking to understand the literary qualities of the Hebrew––a language he studied for three weeks of a nine-week course at the Jewish Community Center in Indianapolis in 2002.

He reads Billy Collins’ The Art of Drowning in order to infuse his prose with poetic sensibilities. He believes this is working. He also believes Billy was a stronger poet then than he is now.

He reads Anthony Doerr’s early short story collection, The Shell Collector, which includes the “The Hunter’s Wife.” These stories, tinged with magical realism and masterful depth of setting––it’s instructive to look from here to All the Light We Cannot See.